Player 2
by Xealah
Summary: Kazuko has always been on the tom-boy/gamer personality level, so when she meets Kirihara, he thinks of her as "One of the Guys". As they soon become friends, and gamer rivals, what feelings will develop between the two and will they accept their feelings? With conflicts and interferences arising, will the challenges make or break a relationship between the two? Kirihara x OC
1. Chapter 1 When Gamers Collide

Chapter 1- When gamers Collide

"Agh! You've got to be kidding me! Who is this 'Hoshi-Warrior' Freak?! He's strong!" Kirihara asked himself while peering around the gaming station.

"Wow! That was _too_ easy! Who's this 'Devil-A' sissy?! Man I hope it's a little girl! That was an embarrassing defeat even to watch!" Kazuko said while peering around the same machine and coming face to face with a boy about her age with short, dark curly hair that reminded her strangely of sea-weed.

They just stared at each other for a while before…

"You're a _girl_?!"

"You're a _dude_?!"

They shouted in unison.

*Kazuko's POV*

I just stared at him.

_'That was a guy?! That weakling?!' _I thought. I couldn't believe it.

"So do you have a little sister that was just playing for you or…?" I asked looking around. I couldn't help it! He sucks at this game!

"What?! No I don't! That just wasn't a fair game!" He yelled, getting in my face challengingly.

"Oh? So the fact that you lost to a girl is the machine's fault?" I challenged back.

"Yes!"

"Then why don't we settle this fair and square? You and me, 1 more round." I offered.

"Deal! But this time, _I_ choose the game!" He said.

"What?! Whatever, fine! You'll lose either way!" I taunted.

Mad, he turned and looked left and right, seemingly searching for a certain game. Apparently he found it because he ran over there and practically dove in the seat before some other kid could even sit down in it. I ran after him before the kid could take the other seat.

"Let's get this over with!" I told him with my signature smirk.

"Yeah! Just don't cry afterwards!" He retorted. Then, the game began...

"No! That can't be it!" I yelled at him. I had won the first game, but because of his pride, he demanded rematch. After that we kept playing until one of us gets a two-win lead over the other, but that didn't happen. Yes, sometimes we got side-tracked and played games as a team against other high-schoolers (kicked their butts too) but it was now 12 to 12 and we had a little problem…

"I'm out of money!" He yelled. A mixture of discourage and anger in his voice. "Do you have any extra that I can borrow?" He asked.

"No. I only have one quarter left." I said staring sadly at said quarter. I put it back into my sonic change pocket, then slouched down on my seat next to him on the bench we were both sitting on.

"Ah man!" He yelled. "Can we meet here tomorrow to finish our competition then?" He asked. Usually he wouldn't ask something like that to a girl because it sounded like he was asking them out or something, but she wasn't like other girls. He was more comfortable with her, like she was one of the guys.

"Ah, man! I can't! I'm leaving tomorrow." I said. He looked at me with a mixed expression of confusion and a little disappointment.

"You see, my Uncle was given a job offer here so we came to check out the place and maybe look to buy a house here. We were only ganna stay 4 days but he has to go back for some urgent business, so our trip was cut short and we're going back early in morning. Think of it like a short vacation." I explained.

"Huh. Will he take the job offer?" He asked.

"I wish I knew." I answered. "Honestly, I hope so." He looked at me. "If everyone here sucks at games as much as you do then I will be queen of the gamers!" I said standing with my hands on my hips and chest sticking out proudly.

"Ha! If you're the queen, then I am the King because I am better than you!" He shouted sticking his chest out proudly but also standing on the bench so that he looked more Royal.

"Yea, you are better than me. But only if you're talking about who's better at losing." I said with my signature smirk.

He turned to glare at me but I was already running off. I turned back around and waved one more time at him before running into the train station.

***Five months later***

It was the beginning of the new school year, and my uncle had taken the job transfer. We moved into a new house, I transferred to a new school named Rikkaidai Chuu, and today was the first day. I was not a happy camper. I was running down the hall trying to find class 2-D.

'_I have English first! That's a plus!' _I thought. English and Gym were my best subjects and they were my first two classes. '_That should help if I'm ever in a bad mood in the morning.' _

I was turning another corner when the letters that I was looking for suddenly flashed in front of me as I ran past it. Skidding to a halt, I back-tracked a bit before slamming the door open just as the bell rang.

"I'm here!" I yelled, panting hard.

The class at first just stared at me, and then erupted into laughter. I smiled awkwardly while scratching my head. Fixing my messed up short and spikey, red hair, I walked into the class towards who I presume was the teacher.

"Alright class, quiet down now." A middle-aged man told the class as he turned to me. "You must be Hoshi Kazuko. Come in and sit down. Your desk is right next to Kirihara Akaya. Uh, He's the one sleeping." He ended his sentence with disgust in his voice.

Turning towards the direction of the other students, I saw a mess of dark curly hair (that reminds me strangely of sea-weed) with his face on his desk, and drool coming out of his mouth.

"Cool, thanks." I tell the teacher before walking towards the empty seat beside the drooling boy.

Sitting down, I looked at the guy sleeping. I think the teacher called him Kirihara… Ayaka? Something like that. Anyway, His hair was familiar, but I don't know why…

I kept trying to remember where I had seen him before throughout class. _'Oh, this is going to kill me if I can't remember where I've seen this dude before!'_ I yell in my head.

My thoughts were interrupted by the deep voice of the teacher yelling, "Kirihara! Wake up!"

"Agh!" The boy who was just called Kirihara jumped at least two feet off his chair before standing strait up and stiff. "Y-yes?"

"Will you answer the question please? What does the passage say in English?" The teacher demanded.

Kirihara went pale. "Uh, I…'

'_It's time for the Awesome Kazuko to save the day!' _I thought as I subtly leaned over and whispered, "The door is on the left side of the room."

"Uh! Th-The door is on the l-left side of the room." He said in a very crappy English accent.

The teacher looked surprised. "Th-that's right. Uh, Good job." The teacher said very hesitantly.

Kirihara sat back down and looked over at me. He didn't say anything, just stared at with a look on his face that showed that he was thinking really hard.

'_I have a feeling that he doesn't do that very much.'_ I thought with a smirk.

"Ah! That's it!" Kirihara suddenly shouted, a triumphant look on his face, while pointing a finger at my face. That look on his face was familiar.

I just stared at him with an eye-brow raised. The class had gone silent from his random outburst. But before the teacher could even say anything to him, the bell rang. I stood and gathered my stuff together but when I turned to walk out of the class room I nearly bumped right into him. He took my bag and opened it up as if looking for something.

"What?!" I snapped. Jerking my bag out of his hands.

"I knew it!" He yelled pulling out my sonic change pocket.

"Knew what?! And If you're trying to steal from _me_, then you better be prepared to bleed!" I yelled popping my knuckles.

He looked surprised but pleased at my response. He handed back my change pocket and I snatched it from him.

"I'm not stealing from you but you do owe me a few games in the arcade. That is, If you don't cry after your defeat." He said while smirking and puffing his chest out.

That's when it hit me.

"Ah!" was all I could respond with as I jabbed a finger into his face as realization hit me. "You're the kid from the arcade! Ah, man! You got taller! Way to make me feel short you jerk!" I said punching him in the arm.

He winced at the impact. Apparently I hit him harder than he expected me too.

"Man! What was that for?! You hit like a guy!" He yelled.

The bell interrupted me before I could say anything else.

"Oh crap! We're late!" I yelled as I ran past him and out into the hall.

*After school*

I had just got done with soccer try-outs, and was walking towards the front gate. Or where I thought the front gate was. I was completely lost. I heard shouting and the sound of people running and playing… tennis? I haven't seen a tennis match in a long time, so I decided to walk towards the sounds. Though, while walking over there, my mind drifted back to soccer tryouts.

'_That was the worst tryout practice I had ever seen! _That_ was supposed to be a _team_?!_'I thought. _'Even the so-called "captain" sucked! This is going to be a long-'_

"Watch out!"

I didn't think twice. In my peripheral vision I saw something of a green color flying right at me. I turned and snapped my hand up right when the flying object collided with the palm of my hand right in front of my face. I gripped on it with my fingertips so that it wouldn't fall and looked at it, then two thoughts went through my head.

1)_ 'That's right! I was walking by the tennis courts! This is a tennis ball! Hah! Duh!'_

2)_ 'OW! My hand is on FIRE! Who hit that ball?!'_

"Woah! Did you see that?!"

"She caught that with her _hand_!"

I looked up towards the voices to see a bunch of guys starting to crowd around me to see if I was alright, and to ask how I caught the ball. I wanted to say 'With my hand you idiot!' but I kept my mouth shut.

"Step aside!" a very powerful voice yelled.

The boys parted like the Red Sea and two guys walked down the middle of the path that was created. The one on the left had dark hair and seemed very stoic. I couldn't see his eyes because they were closed but he definitely had a presence about him. The guy on the right's presence just screamed power. He was tall with black hair and he wore a black cap. He looked like he was about to murder someone.

They stopped in front of me and the guy with the cap was the first to speak.

"Are you OK?" His voice was stern and he seemed only a little concerned, just more irritated.

"Uh, yes. Sorry for interrupting your practice. Uh… here's your ball back." I said awkwardly as I handed the ball back.

"It's no problem. We are sorry for the inconvenience." He said to me as he took the ball and turned around shouting, "Kirihara! 200 laps!"

My eyes looked over to a figure in the crowd that seemed to be… hiding? He instantly striated up and looked at The taller man.

"Wah?! But why Sanada-fukubuchou? You know I can't control the Knuckle Serve yet! It's not my fault!" he complained.

"Tarundoru!" The one called Sanada yelled. That's when I stepped in.

"Wait! If it wasn't his fault, and I didn't get hurt, then why make him run laps?" I asked Sanada.

He turned to me, "For discipline."

"Then you have a dumb sense of when to discipline people." I retorted.

Silence.

No one said a word.

Sanada's face started to turn red but not from embarrassment, I think that it was from anger.

Right when I opened my mouth to add something to my argument, two hands covered my mouth from each side of me.

"Wow! S-so you caught that with only one hand huh?" the one on my right said with a light awkward laugh.

"You must have played many sports before huh? Puri~" The one on my left added.

I tried to yell at them to let go of me but my mouth was still covered.

"Marui! Niou! Don't change the subject! All four of you run laps _with_ Kirihara now!" He yelled.

"Wait! Four?!" I yelled after the boys known as Marui and Niou dropped their hands in defeat.

"Just run please. Before Sanada-fukubuchou loses it completely." A darker bald man stepped forward to whisper to me.

Sighing, I followed the others towards the track. I walked alongside Kirihara the whole way and kept pace with him while we ran as well.

"Thanks for trying to help, Hoshi-kun."

I turned towards the direction of the voice and see Kirihara staring at me.

"Huh?" Was the only thing I could say.

"You know, when you said those things to Sanada-fu-"

"I know what you mean by that, I said 'huh?' because of what you called me. Hoshi-_kun_?" I interrupted.

By now, Niou and Marui had heard what all we were saying and turned their attention on us.

"Oh! I said that because you act more like a guy than a girl." He explained.

I tilted my head, "Is this because of how hard I punched you?"

Niou and Marui erupted into laughter.

"She punched you?" Niou asked.

"That must have been hilarious!" Marui added.

They both stopped their laughing and sped up their pace a bit at Kirihara's glare.

I laughed and ran after them when Kirihara turned his glare on me.

-After 50 more laps-

"Hey Hoshi-kun!" Marui called.

I turned to look at him.

Him and Niou shared an evil/knowing look and I got kind-of nervous.

"Mind walking with us? Marui, Kirihara, Jackel, and me were all ganna be walking together but we thought that you might need someone to walk with. It's a big town you know, and we have already heard about you getting lost many times." Niou said.

I thought for a minute. He was right, I _did_ keep getting lost, and I didn't mind the company. Why not? And if I was lucky, the arcade would be open and I could finally finish Kirihara's and My competition.

"Ok. Why not?" I answered.

Marui jumped up and down with a big smile on his face and Niou smirked and whispered a small 'Puri~'

So now here we are walking in the OPPOSITE direction of the Arcade! Apparently the majority of their houses are this way, so I didn't complain, but SERIOUSLY?

Marui talked about his favorite sweets and cakes, then Niou talked about his day with making a stink bomb and placing it in the teachers' lounge. Poor Jackel couldn't say even one word while Marui and Niou kept asking question after question about me and why I moved, etc. But their questions kept leading back to Me and Kirihara. How did we meet? How long have we known eachother? I was about to Lose it!

"Well Jackel and I have to get some stuff before Tennis practice tomorrow so we have to leave you guys here!" Marui suddenly said.

"Wait, we don't-" Jackel tried saying something but was cut off by Marui dragging him off to God-knows-where.

"Yea! I need to be going too! My stop is just this way so I'll see you guys later!" Niou said before winking and turning around to go his own direction.

Kirihara and I looked at each other in confusion, then shrugged.

"Well my place was that way, so I'm ganna head back that way." I said pointing back towards the way we just walked from.

"Well I'll go with you because my place is that way too." He told me. "I thought that Jackel and Niou's house was that way too but I guess I was wrong." He added more to himself than to me but I didn't care.

"If we hurry then I'm sure that we can get to the arcade before it closes!" I said, excited that there might be a chance at playing against Kirihara again.

"I'll race you!" He said.

"Bring it on! Or are you a sissy at running and ganna lose to a girl at this too?" I challenged.

"Yea right! There is no way I'm losing to you! Besides, it's not a proved fact about whether or not that you are a girl!" he taunted before speeding off down the road past me.

"Hey! Cheater!" I yelled as I ran after him.

When we finally arrived at the arcade, he was only a foot in front of me, but he still considers it a win even though he cheated and got a head-start.

With our hands on our knees, we panted and couldn't even argue about who won and why. The only thing we _could_ do, was yell and kick our feet. The stupid Arcade was closed!

"_Now_ what?! There's no way I'm going home to do homework!" My plans for the day are blown!" I yelled. I had planned to beat him quickly and then expected him (being him)to demand rematches! So, in a nut-shell, I was planning to play (and beat) him at video-games all day.

"Agh!" Kirihara yelled. He seemed angrier than I was about it. He suddenly stopped and turned to look at me. "I got it!"

"What?! You got what? I'm not a freaking mind-reader you know!" I snapped at him.

His excitement vanished long enough to shoot a glare at me, before smiling again suggesting, "Why don't you come to my house? I have plenty of games!"

I thought about it for a bit. Uncle doesn't get off work for another two hours, Kirihara has games that I can kick his butt at, and I have nothing else to do except homework (Like I'm ganna skip Games for Homework!).

"Yea! Let's go!" I answered.

Smiling, he turned to lead the way to his house. The whole walk there we just talked about tennis, soccer, and who is going to kick who's butt in those games. It wasn't a long walk, about five minutes at the most. '_Lucky!_' I thought, '_Does that mean he gets to come to the Arcade whenever he wants?!_' I lived closer to ten minutes away but that was only if I took the train.

Finally arriving at his house, he took _forever_ to find his key! I'm surprised he actually remembered to _bring_ one with that memory of his!

"Who's your girlfriend?" I heard a female voice say after we walked in. Kirihara cringed at the voice.

"She's not my girlfriend!" He yelled at the older girl. She looked to be in high school too so it must be an older sister. She was pretty. She had dark hair like Kirihara but it was long and flowed in waves so it wasn't _as_ curly as his but you could see the resemblance.

She smirked, "If she's not your girlfriend, then who is she?"

"She's… My video game Rival! We met a few months ago at the arcade. She just moved in. Wait, where's Mom and Dad?" Kirihara answered.

"I don't know, I think their at some business meeting. They won't be back until later so I was told to babysit you, but I have a date. I only was ganna stay long enough to make sure you remembered your key to the house, but now I don't want to leave. Who knows what you'd do to this poor girl." She said with a slight giggle.

"Hey! I'm not a 'poor girl'! I can take care of myself!" I protested.

She laughed, "Haha! I like her! Maybe she can baby sit you while I'm out."

"I don't need a babysitter!" Kirihara yelled. He was fuming.

Turning, he grabbed my elbow and started pulling me up the stairs. We arrived at what I guess was his room. It was messy, but not worse than mine. You could still find a pathway to everything at least.

"Which game so you want to play, Hoshi-kun? Zombie Invasion? Or Scientist Apocalypse?" He asked me with shiny eyes. Yep. He's back to normal. Or, well not _normal,_ normal but… never mind.

I sat there with equally shiny eyes. These just came out so I haven't played any of them yet. "AGH! I can't choose! Want to play Zombie Invasion first and then Scientist Apocalypse after?"

"Great idea!" He answered.

We played as a team throughout most of the game against other people over the internet. Kicked their butts too!

"We make a pretty good team don't you think?" I asked with a wide smile on my face.

"Yea! Hey, Hoshi-kun! Wanna come over and play as a team again tomorrow?" He asked me.

I nodded then laughed. "Hehe, Sea-weed Head!" I snickered.

Kirihara paused the game and looked at me with an expression mixed with confusion and anger. "What did you call me?" He asked outraged, which was kind of funny considering he has a very Nasal voice.

"What? You call me Hoshi-_kun_! So I get to call you Sea-weed Head!" I declared.

"No! That's not-!" Kirihara was interrupted by a vibrating and ringing sound that was coming from my pocket. Slipping my phone out I noticed that my Uncle had sent me a text. Flipping it open I read the text, looked at the time, then freaked out.

"WAGH! It's _that_ late?!" I shouted. Kirihara looked confused. He just stared at me as if I had suddenly grown two heads.

"I gatta go! I'll come back tomorrow so I can kick your butt at Scientist Apocalypse too!" I laughed as I zoomed down the stairs.

"You didn't win! It was a team thing!" I heard him yell after me. I laughed. Yep. So far I think I'm going to like it here.

**-A/N-**

So this is my first fanfiction, and it was based on my sister's OC. So technically this whole story is written for her.

Please review honest comments about if you liked it or not, and if not, what I can do to make it better!


	2. Chapter 2 Park

Chapter Two- park

_'Fell asleep again...'_ I sighed inwardly while looking at the sleeping figure of Kirihara.

_'I don't blame him though. With all the training he has had this past week, we haven't gotten to go to the arcade much at all, much less for him to get some sleep.'_

It had been two weeks since the first day of school and since then, I've been over to his house maybe 4 times to play video games and to help him with his English. He helps me with Japanese too, so now I've already met his parents, and he's already met my uncle. I found out that Kirihara's sister's name is Ayame, and we actually get along a lot better than I thought we would. I've been to some of his practices and now I think I'm on Sanada's good side for now. Other than that, we've been to the arcade _almost _every day. We both have had practices and homework as well.

"Kirihara!" That stern voice of the teacher yelling at Kirihara snapped me out of my thoughts, and Kirihara out of a deep sleep.

"Y-Yes?" Kirihara yelled, quickly jumping out of his chair.

"I asked you a question! What does this passage mean in English?" He asked with a scowl on his face while pointing to the English scribble that was on the board.

Kirihara looked stumped. He looked over at me for an answer but I just gave him a smile and a thumb's up.

Taking a big gulp of air, he tried to calm himself down before answering the teacher with a terrible English accent, "The dog ran a-around the h-hose?"

The teacher looked some-what surprised. "Close enough. If there is a 'u' in the word 'hose', what does it say?"

Kirihara's face went blank. I decided that now was a good time to help him.

I subtly leaned over and slowly whispered the word 'house' to him to where he could pronounce it easier.

"H-house?" He said to the teacher with his accent a little better.

The teacher smiled for once. "I'm surprised Kirihara! You must have actually been studying!"

Kirihara looked irritated at that comment. He opened his mouth to snap at the teacher but I stood up and cut him off.

"Mr. Kakohoshi, you can't blame him for getting the passage wrong when it's your fault that it's written wrong." I told him boldly.

Mr. Kakohoshi raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Glancing over at a surprised looking Kirihara, who was now sitting down, I gave him a wink and walked up to the front of the class.

"First of all, you spelled 'ran' in its present tense as 'run'. And I won't even begin with the punctuation." I told him while walking up to the front of the class.

After erasing and rewriting the correct sentence. I turned to the teacher and said in English, "You're welcome." And then turned and went to sit down.

The teacher stuttered a bit before replying, "uh, s-thank you." In English but with a _really_ crappy accent.

I sat back down and looked over at Kirihara smiling. He had a smirk on his face that said exactly what he was thinking: _"Show off!"_

After school, I got a call from my Uncle telling me that I needed to pick up Roshi, my German Shepard, from the vet. I was kind of upset because today the tennis team got a break from their practices and the soccer team was only gonna practice for half an hour today. But now Kirihara and I can't hang out because I have to pick up Roshi, and walk him, and feed him, and other chores that come with him... Grrrr.

Walking towards the vet, I took another drink of my Coke. I had already told Kirihara and them before Soccer practice started that I couldn't hang-out with them. They were trying to bribe me with free movie tickets to the new Horror movie that I have been wanting to see, The Possession 3. The last one was scarier than the first one so I figured that this one should be better.

I looked at my watch. 'The movie is probably almost over.' I thought with a huff. (Remember, I had to go to soccer practice, change into regular clothes, and walk all the way to the vet. Perfect time fit to a movie.)

Entering the Vet's office, I told them my last name and Roshi's name and waited as they went back to get him.

Looking at the 'Lost' board, I looked at all the cats and dogs, and the prices that they'd pay to get them back. I did this a lot. I always tried to help out when I can and it just so happen that I could get paid to do it too.

My eyes traveled over the page until it landed on a toy poodle with black curly hair. It kind of reminded me of Kirihara. I giggled. Hearing a familiar bark I turned around only to be knocked down by a big furry creature that was licking my face.

"Haha! Hey boy! How've you been?" I giggle as Roshi continues his slobber-fest on my face. "OK! OK! I missed you too! Now get off!" I laugh.

Finally, after paying the vet and hooking the leash onto Roshi's collar, I turned and walked outside. I started walking home until Roshi started barking and pulling me towards the park. I used to take him to the park all the time when he was a puppy, but since this is a new town and he had never been to this park, he was a little _too_ eager to check it out.

Turning to the direction of the park, I gave Roshi's leash a firm tug to calm him down before walking though the entrance. There were many other pets, and people here. Kids running around, some blushing teenage couples on first dates. I smirked as I pictured one of them tripping into the fountain.

_'Maybe I'll mess with them later'_ I thought.

Walking along near a pond, I stopped to allow Roshi to get a drink of water. As he lapped up the water I looked around and spotted an ice cream truck not far away. Turning around I found a nearby lamp post and went over and tied Roshi's leash to it, then turned back towards the ice cream truck, made sure I had enough money, and went to the truck full of deliciousness.

"One chocolate ice-cream cone please!" I yelled to the guy with the ice-cream scooper. He nodded and turned around to fix me said delicious treat. I then heard crying next to me and looking to see what it was. When I looked I saw that it was a little boy with short brown hair, staring at the ground with tears in his eyes. On the ground sat a now melting chocolate ice-cream cone.

"Mam, here's your ice-cream." the man said to me with a smile.

"Oh! Uh, could I get one more please?" I asked him while handing him the money.

He smiled, "Of course."

Turning to the little boy with the first ice-cream cone, I smiled and handed it to him. He looked up at me shocked, then his face nearly ripped in half with a wide, toothy smile.

Wiping his tears away quickly, he took the ice cream from me with an adorable "Thank you!"

Smiling, I waved at him and turned to receive my ice cream cone. Tipping the man and walking back to Roshi, I stopped mid-way when I saw that my dog was gone.

-**Kirihara POV-**

He couldn't remember when he had fallen asleep, he just remembered that after the movie, Niou, Jackel, and Bunta had other plans to attend to, So Kirihara wondered over to the park, lied down in the grass in front of a pond in the park around 4:00, and then waking up just now to something wet covering his face.

"Wagh! Pah!" He spat. Sitting up he looked to his right to meet a big furry dog that looked more than happy to see him.

"Ruff!" He barked while wagging his tail. He looked to be a full grown German Shepard. His ears were wrapped, so he probably just got back from the vet after getting his ears fixed.

"Um..." He didn't know what to do. He stood up and tried to start walking away but the dog circled around him and, wagging his tail, got down like he wanted to play. He had a collar and a leash, so apparently the owner lost him.

"Ugh! Go away!" He said exasperated. Looking around, he spotted a stick. _'Maybe if I throw it he'll chase after it, and then I can make a run for it!' _He quickly went to pick it up, but the dog snatched it before he got to it.

"No! Give that back! I was ganna throw it for you!" Kirihara temped. He grabbed the stick but ended up in a tug-of-war with the dog. They pulled and tugged until Kirihara snatched it away.

"Haha!" He laughed in triumph. Turning around he threw it far and yelled, "Fetch!"

When the dog took off running, so did Kirihara. He turned around and started running himself in the opposite direction. Little did he know, he can't outrun a dog, so the fluffy animal soon caught up to him and, again, blocked his way.

"Ugh! You want to play do you? Fine!" Kirihara challenged the dog, "if you can catch me, nine more times then I'll buy you a treat." He offered, smiling.

The dog dropped the stick and barked. Apparently he understood the word 'treat'. Kirihara grabbed the stick again and waved it in the dogs face.

"Sit." He said. The dog sat down with his eyes still on the stick. Kirihara was impressed. _'He's been trained.'_ He thought. Turning around he threw the stick with a yell.

"Go get it!"

The dog took off, and so did Kirihara. Running as fast as he could, Kirihara still got stopped by the dog running around him, and blocking his path. Kirihara smiled and the dog dropped the stick with his tail wagging.

This went on for a little while. They were on their eighth run when right when Kirihara was about to throw the stick, the dog started looking around quickly, like it heard something. Of course, since Kirihara had just watched a horror movie, He was thinking that the dog was acting up because of some strange possession.

"W-what's going on?" He asked the dog, still waving the stick around. He heard a voice that sounded both out of breath, and a little far away.

"Roshi!"

_'Wait, I know that voice.'_ Kirihara thought. The dog ran off towards the direction of the voice and Kirihara followed. He was curious about who owned the dog, and also, he owed the dog a treat.

Stopping abruptly at who was petting the dog he stuttered while saying, "Hoshi-kun?"

She looked up surprised, "Wah? Seaweed head!" She said with a surprised smile on her face.

"Is this your dog?" He asked, looking at the German Shepard with wrapped up ears.

"Yea, I told you I had to pick him up from the vet today, didn't I?" She questioned more to herself than to Kirihara. _'That's right!' _He thought,_ 'that's why she couldn't hang out with Bunta, Niou, and me today.'_

"Yea you did. Sorry, I just didn't expect to run into you after we left." He told her. He still thought it was weird how comfortable they were with each other. _'Just like one of the guys.'_ He thought again.

"Huh, I'm glad it was you who found him or else I would have been running around all afternoon!" She said with her hands resting on her knees. That's when I noticed how out of breath she was. They both were he noticed.

The dog that Kirihara heard her call "Roshi" turned and stared walking into the shade of a tree. Kazuko followed and then Kirihara joined them.

-Kazuko POV-

I was glad that it was Kirihara who found Roshi. _'It's better than some random person finding him and taking off with him.'_ I thought.

I followed Roshi to the shade of an oak tree that was standing nearby, and Kirihara joined us soon after. Roshi and I sat down and Kirihara stood there as if lost in thought.

"What?" I asked him.

He looked at Roshi as he replied, "I promised your dog that I would give him a treat, but now that I think about it, I don't have any dog treats." I sweat dropped.

"Here," I said reaching into my pocket and pulling out a handful of small treats. "I was supposed to give these to him earlier but forgot. Since you want to give him some then you can do it." I told him, handing him the treats.

Smiling, he took the treats from my hand then bent down in front of Roshi with his hand outstretched. Roshi ate the treats then licked Kirihara on his hand and face.

I giggled. "Haha! He likes you!"

Kirihara laughed and was pushed down on the ground by Roshi and we both laughed at the scene. Finally I pulled Roshi off of Kirihara, and sat with my back against the tree. Kirihara joined me and sat to my right with Roshi laying his head on my lap.

"So, why do you live with your uncle?" Kirihara asked.

"Wow. You're really strait to the point huh?" I smirked at him.

"I didn't mean it in a pushy or nosey way! I was just curious!" He denied.

I laughed. "I'm just messing with you! My mother died giving birth to me, and my father died in a plane accident when I was only six. It wasn't really sad for me or anything considering that I didn't really remember them or know them for that matter. Anyway, I stayed in an orphanage for about a year until my uncle got there to pick me up and got full custody over me. I was staying with my grandfather when the crash happened. He died sometime when I was in the orphanage."

Kirihara just stared at me. He had an expression mixed with regret and sadness.

_**POW!**_

"OW! Why did you hit me?!" He yelled.

I turned a playful glare to him. "For feeling pity for me!" I yelled at him, "It wasn't supposed to be a sad story! You asked why I live with my uncle, so I answered you, simple as that. My past is what has led me to today." I finished leaning back against the tree smiling.

He stared at me as if I was crazy.

_'Man, I hate all this attention!_' I mentally yelled.

"So, why do you play tennis?" I asked him.

He jumped, surprised. He looked at me as if I had just asked him why does he breath air.

"What? Everyone has their reasons!" I protested with a huff. "I was just curious! If you don't want to answer that question then answer this one: Why do you play on the Rikkai Tennis Team?"

He smirked widely and cockily. "To beat the Three Demons of Rikkai!"

"The three... Demons?" I asked. If there really were three demons at Rikkai, and only tennis could beat them, then I was going to buy a new racquet _TODAY._

"Yea! You've already met two of them! The data-master- Yanagi Renji, co-captain- Sanada Genichiro, and captain- Yukimora Seichii." He said.

I tilted my head. "You mean Sanada isn't the captain?"

"I thought so too, but Yukimora has a really bad disease." He said sadly with a yawn. "It was said to be incurable so he has been fighting it for a while. We visit him every now and again and up-date him on our wins." He said with his eyes drooping slowly.

His head started to lean down-ward a bit and bob up every now and again, but it finally found a place to rest. On my shoulder. I didn't try to wake him or anything. I knew he was tired.

Looking up to the sky, I noticed that it was almost dark and the lamp posts were already lit. Roshi was still asleep on my lap, and Kirihara was now asleep on my shoulder. I started to think back to the rest of the day and all that had happened. It was around 7:00 P.M. and we didn't have school tomorrow, but I did have to be home soon.

I started to feel my own eyes droop. _'I'm so tired.'_ I thought. _'I guess a quick nap wouldn't hurt anything.' _

I leaned my head over on top of Kirihara's. His curly hair tickled my nose. He was comfortable though.

"Hoshi-kun..." He mumbled. I didn't move. I was comfortable and just wanted a nap. "You won't win... against me.." He mumbled again. I giggled.

_'Only in your dreams you'd beat me, sea-weed-head.'_ I thought with a smirk.

"Dang it..." He said in his sleep.

_'Wow! I was wrong! Not __**even**__ in your dreams can you beat me!_' I snickered. I finally started to feel the pull of sleep when...

"Aw! Look at the love-birds!" ... A snotty nosed, high pitched, annoying voice jerked me to my feet.

There were three little boys all pointing and laughing at my reaction. Kirihara woke up when his head hit the ground from my absence.

"I-I didn't fall asleep! Mr. Kako... Huh?" He said looking around. This made the kids laugh even harder. Kirihara looked confused.

_'This is getting old.'_ I thought. Roshi just got up too. Stomping over to the kid that woke me up, I grabbed him by the back of his shirt before he could run away. Turning him towards Roshi (that I made growl on command) I yelled, "You better take that back before I feed you to my dog over here. It's been about three days since his last meal." I sneered with a wink at Kirihara who looked more lost than these kids did.

"Agh! I take it back! I take it back!" The kid yelled. I laughed.

Letting him go I turned to the others with a grin. They all were bunching together like they would somehow be protected from my wrath. Reaching into my pocket, I started to pull out my sonic change pocket. Apparently they thought I had a weapon of some sorts because they all got down on their hands and knees and started begging for their lives.

"Please don't eat us!"

"I want to live!"

"Please spare us!"

"We're sorry!"

**-Kirihara POV-**

He watched with amusement as the kids begged her for their lives to be spared. It was way too funny. He was trying his hardest not to laugh. Kazuko almost reminded him of a wolf baring her fangs.

His attention snapped to Kazuko when she pulled out her sonic change pocket and giggled at the kids. Her giggle was kind-of cute. Wait he didn't just think that did he?! That's like saying Niou's pony-tail was cute! That's just... NO!

Roshi walked over to one of the boys and licked his face. The boy's head shot up quickly. He looked like he thought that he was just licked by a crocodile. She patted Roshi on the head and then turned to the kids with three dollars in her hand. Kirihara tilted his head in curiosity.

"Now, you each get one dollar. That should be enough for a few games at the arcade. Or if you want, there is an ice-cream stand just by that lake over there." She told them with a cute smile. Wait, it wasn't cute it was... Uh... nice! That's what it was, a nice smile! -and giggle!

They looked flat out confused at this point. She laughed that… _nice_ laugh again and told them, "Don't worry, I'm not going to bite your hands off!"

They slowly stood up. They looked like they were an 8, 9, and 10 year old.

"B-but, what about feeding us to your dog?" The youngest one asked.

"Can't you guys take a joke?" She asked them. "That's what happens when you wake someone up with a rude - not to mention _untrue_- comment. Now are you ganna take the money or not?!" It looked like, to Kiriahra, that Kazuko blushed a bit when she said that.

They brightened up almost instantly. Taking the money, the youngest one stole a hug from her, which Kirihara didn't like too much, but they both had a smile on their face.

"Thanks wolf lady!" The middle one yelled. Her eyebrow twitched while Kirihara snickered.

They all ran off giggling and laughing, talking about the "wolf lady in the park"

He turned to her, "So what was it that they said though?"

She looked at him, and then looked straight as if thinking. "Uh... It was nothing. I told them that I'd let it go right? It's better to leave it at that and not have you chasing after them trying to kill them too." She laughed.

"W-what?! What do you mean?!" He asked her in a playfully threatening way.

Backing up with her hands up she replied, "Nothing! N-nothing at all!" She almost sang.

Turning around she took off and he chased after her. Finally it was time for her to go home, and Kirihara made sure she got there safely despite her protests.

Walking up towards her house, she turned towards him with a big smile. The sudden smile surprised him and he just stared at her... _nice_ smile.

"I had a lot of fun today, sea-weed head! We need to hang out more often. Later!" She said before pulling Roshi, who Kirihara just realized had been licking his hand, inside, and closed the door.

He snapped out of his daze and yelled to where she was standing, "Y-yea! Uh, See ya!" Turning, He quickly walked away towards his own house still thinking of the day.

_'What was it that the boys in the park had said?' _Kirihara wondered._ 'I'll ask her about it again tomorrow.'_


End file.
